Baemin's Win-Win Differential Fee System Takes Effect Today
Will Restaurant Owners See Lower Costs?
Some Express Opposition
Last year's 'Delivery Platform-Merchant Win-Win Council' has put the win-win fee system to the test. Baedal Minjok, the number one platform in the delivery app market, has started implementing this win-win fee system by reducing commissions by up to 7.8 percentage points. While the platform emphasizes the effect of the reduction, some merchants in the higher tiers have voiced dissatisfaction because the differential commission structure applies greater discounts to merchants with smaller delivery sales. Baemin plans to focus on supporting small business owners facing difficulties in accordance with the purpose of the Win-Win Council agreement and will do its best to stabilize the fee system.
Woowa Brothers, the operator of Baemin, announced on the 26th that it has started applying the win-win fee system. Accordingly, the brokerage fee for merchants using Baemin's own delivery product, 'Baemin1 Plus,' has been reduced by 2 to 7.8 percentage points from the previous 9.8%. The Win-Win Council included government and public interest commissioners, four delivery platforms, and merchant organizations, and created this win-win fee system through 14 full meetings over about four months. According to the Win-Win Council's decision, this fee system, which will operate for the next three years, features greater benefits for merchants with smaller delivery sales. Baemin explained that based on an average order amount of 25,000 KRW, merchants in the bottom 20% tier will see a cost reduction of 1,950 KRW per delivery compared to before, those in the 20-50% tier will save 750 KRW, and those in the 50-65% tier will save 550 KRW. It is expected that more than half of the merchants will enjoy cost savings through the win-win fee system.
Research results have also shown that this differential commission system can bring benefits to all market participants, including merchants, consumers, and platforms. At the '2025 Economics Joint Academic Conference' held in Daejeon on the 5th, Lee Gong, a research fellow at KDI (Korea Development Institute), presented a study comparing single commission and differential commission fee systems. According to the study, applying differential commissions to the platform can increase the welfare of all platform participants and the overall market compared to a single commission system. The results showed that applying differential commissions increases the number of restaurants using the platform and improves the benefits for merchants, consumers, and the platform alike compared to applying a single commission.
Some have criticized the win-win fee system. On online communities, merchants have expressed opinions demanding the disclosure of the sales amount criteria for tier classification, claiming they were included in higher tiers despite not having large sales. The Democratic Party's Euljiro Committee and National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik also visited Woowa Brothers' headquarters in Songpa-gu, Seoul, requesting Baemin to participate in the social dialogue body that the Democratic Party is conducting with Coupang Eats. In response, a Baemin official said, "Since this was decided after long discussions, we will ensure that small merchants can quickly feel the real benefits through sincere implementation of the win-win plan," adding, "We will actively communicate with merchants who think the win-win plan is insufficient and seek improvements."
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